Social, religious, political and racial barriers are all but extinct in today’s world. We, even in the dance community, feel the backlash of the divides that are caused by these barriers. One example of suck a thing is Krewella’s Yasmine and Jahan not being allowed into India for Sunburn Festival in Pune, India Dec 28 – Dec 31 this year.
Unfortunately, issues regarding borders of the divided area of Kasmir and the violent disputes from both sides result in the countries holding very high tensions for both sides. It has been pointed out that each side has their own interpretations of what happened during recent attacks that have caused tensions to be so high. There has been violence on both sides and death tolls rise.
One example of reactions for public officials include India’s Home Minister being one of the many in posting regarding the feelings about Pakistan since back in September.
Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such.
— Rajnath Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016
What does this mean for the India Krew? Unfortunately, because India does not want those with Pakistani heritage entering their borders. Music festivals, of course, must follow the rules and regulations from the country which they are hosted within. That means that the Yousaf sisters, born in Illinois, cannot enter India as they are descendants of Pakistani natives.
In their letter, the sisters write that they are apologetic to their fans in India and say that they have been trying to get their relation teams to find a loophole to allow them to perform, but it has not been able to find any solution. The team is working on resolving such issues to allow music to cross these boarders.
Here, you can find out more on the Kashmir issues and the possibility of violence between the two countries. Below are their social media messages to their India fans.
Due to unforeseen complications, we will not be playing @SunburnFestival 🙁
We are working to make it up to you guys as soon as possible! pic.twitter.com/m76FId6WIA— Krewella (@Krewella) December 26, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOfdbYWBAL6/?taken-by=krewella